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Saturday, September 7th is National Clean Out Your Garage Day. I'm all for keeping the clutter at bay and organizing my items, but our garage is just plain scary. It has become a dumping ground for everything that I can't find a home for inside our house.

Cleaning out the garage has been on my "to-do" list for years. I've been avoiding it because I fear it will be overwhelming, time consuming, and expensive. But when I learned of Crawford™-brand organization products, I became motivated to clean out the garage.

The overwhelming part of any de-cluttering process is all the items that have accumulated. For us, it was loose sports equipment that was literally placed everywhere and anywhere in the garage. There were basketballs thrown in a wagon. There were bicycle helmets in the bin of beach toys. It's no surprise we can never find something when we need it the most.

So, I decided that after I sent the kids off on their first day of school, I'd start tackling the garage. I knew I couldn't do it all in one day, so I decided to make a plan for breaking down the garage into sections and tackling each section one at a time.

I had recently been sent a Crawford™ Smart System and a Mesh Storage Organizer. My first task was to install them so that we could put them to good use. I found the perfect empty spot on the garage wall.

The Smart System came with all necessary screws and the required drill bit. You need to supply the drill. Does it get any easier? In no time at all, I had the Smart System on the wall and I was ready to start using it.

Next up was the Mesh Storage Organizer. It came with 3 large hooks that screw into the wall. Once I drilled small holes into the wall, the hooks were easy to screw in, and the organizer easily hooks over the hooks.

Now that both the Crawford™ Smart System and Mesh Storage Organizer were in place, it was time to fill them up. I started with a pogo stick that most frequently is on the floor of the garage. Whenever I pull my car in, I have to get out and pick up the pogo stick. Now we've got the perfect spot for it.

I also added a snow shovel, a rake, and a bicycle helmet. I would have put both helmets on the Smart System, but I couldn't locate the other one. Imagine that!

I went to work filling the Mesh Storage Organization system. It was easy to figure out what to put into it. There were all sorts of sports and play balls all over the yard and the garage.

Look at the difference! We are now more organized which translates to efficiency.

Sorting and organizing doesn't have to be a tedious and overwhelming chore.If you break it down into steps and specific tasks and assign time frames to each, cleaning out your garage, or any space for that matter, becomes manageable.

2) Get vertical - The biggest mistake most of us make when organizing our garages is that we do not take advantage of the vertical space. Use items such as the Crawford™ Smart System and Mesh Organizing system to make the most of the plentiful vertical space.

3) Secure hazardous and toxic chemicals away from children - Dangerous household items should be stored in shelves that are out of the reach of children or better yet, in storage closets that are able to be locked.